TAMPA – Four young Latin players sat in a semi-circle around Mariano Rivera, hung on his every word.

Late yesterday morning, Rivera was not a closer, but an oracle. In the part of the clubhouse no longer occupied by Bernie Williams, Rivera told this small gathering about his recent mission to the Dominican Republic in which he preached school, religion and then baseball.

He mentioned how so many Latino boys forgo education and remove any safety net on the slim chance they can make it to The Show. He counseled his captive Legends Field disciples that if that was their situation to give their all in this camp. “Don’t give 60 percent and have regrets the rest of your life,” Rivera said of his message.

Since it was Rivera, the message was received.

“You will not find another like him in the business of baseball,” said reliever Jose Veras, one of yesterday’s students. “He is a legend, but does not act special.”

Said another of the flock, catcher Wil Nieves, “He cares about other people. He doesn’t act like he is better than anybody else. When he is done playing, they will say he was the greatest closer ever. But I will tell my children what an honor it was to share the clubhouse with an even better man.”

Sorry if this sounds like a baseball obituary. It is not. With all the public airing in recent days of Rivera’s disenchantment with the lack of a contract extension, I still suspect he will thrive again in 2007 and the Yanks will re-sign him. Rivera said yesterday that if he becomes a free agent after the season, every team would have an equal opportunity to sign him with no advantage to the Yanks. That sounds great, but also like something an agent informs a proud player to say. Mo burns to be a Yankee, and the Yanks recognize what a blessing it has been to have him.

It is just an elbow injury last season and Rivera’s age (37) has made the Yanks cautious, and everyone aware that Rivera is nearing the ninth inning of his career. And when he is gone, the organization will not just miss the pitcher, although he earned the distinction as the greatest closer ever by essentially turning lineups during the fiercest offensive era in history into a Rey Ordonez composite.

Quietly, because that is his nature, Rivera has become more the Yankee leader than even Derek Jeter, the nominal captain. It was Rivera who last year tried both tenderness and then tough love with Alex Rodriguez. And when it comes to pitchers and Latin players, particularly, Rivera has assumed a role part shaman/part coach/part older brother.

“When guys get here who have never been here before, he is the guy they have respect for beyond anyone else in baseball,” said bullpen catcher Mike Borzello, who has sat side-by-side watching games with Rivera the past 11 years. “Think of who he is. He is the guy who has taken the baseball in the ninth inning of the biggest games, in the biggest city and for the longest time, with unreal success and never an excuse. What he has done has never been done before and will never be done again. So he is almost looked at in awe by other players.”

In his willingness to counsel, Rivera is honoring John Wetteland, who in 1996 did not care that Rivera might take his job. Instead, he shared late-game wisdom, notably the advice to leave failure behind and move on to the next game. Think about how Tom Gordon, who was older and quite accomplished when he signed with the Yanks, nevertheless essentially came to view Rivera as his mentor, so giving was Rivera with his brain, heart and time.

“Mo is much more than a pitching coach,” Borzello said. “He is a people coach. All Mo really has to do is say, ‘Watch how I do it on and off the field.’ But he is too humble and never would say that. Instead, he is the blueprint for anyone smart enough to watch and listen.”

That is why Rivera’s final close – the one to his Yankee career – is going to cut with more damaging impact than any of his pitches.